Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Rice (Follow the Stars Home; Dream Country) brings her signature sensitivity to this beautifully textured summertime read. Famed artist Hugh Renwick is an adulterous alcoholic who is touched by genius. Long after his death, his wife and three daughters struggle with his oversized legacy and the damage left in his wake. Skye, the youngest, drinks to numb the pain of an abusive marriage and to squelch the memories of a past mistake on a hunting trip with her father, she accidentally shot a man. Meanwhile, the eldest sister, Caroline, hides her vulnerability behind a shell of brittle competence. The family's delicate balance shifts forever when treasure salvager Joe Connor arranges a dive in the waters near their home. Linked to the Renwicks by a tragedy that occurred when he was just a child, Joe helps Skye get sober, melts the ice in Caroline's heart and heals his own scars in the process. As always, Rice excels at evoking the strong but contradictory emotions that both bind and divide families. In her capable hands, what could have been a superficial glitz-and-glamour story of affluence, death and fame rings with truth and warmth. With its crisp New England ambiance and delicate prose, her latest is a lovely celebration of sisterhood, summer and survival.

Describing the plot of this book, it's hard not to be sarcastic. The coincidences rival some of the plots of Unsolved Mysteries. Nothing happens only once. Caroline watches two strangers die of gunshot wounds in two unrelated incidents 10 years apart. Later, two characters get the exact same injury on the exact same day, also in unrelated incidents. What are the chances? And don't get me started on the chichihua/rat mixup story. Urban mythologists say it never really happened, but it does here.Still, despite the credibility-straining plot, the book eventually won me over. Luanne Rice is a good writer, and the characters were, for the most part, three dimensional and likable. Their actions were usually well-motivated--no one was an alcoholic or a neglectful mother without explanation. There was a bit too much symbolism given to little objects (snake bones, black pearls, etc.) and Rice should never try to write in the voice of a child--the letters between two young characters and a young girl's diary did not ring true. But in the end, I was really hoping for a happy ending for this family, which means that overall, the book worked for me.

Luanne Rice is one of my very favorite writers because her books never fail to interest, entertain or move me as she sets the stage with both wonderful relationships between her characters and intriguing plots. And while I always want to gulp down her books, I find myself sabing some of her books so I always have something to read by her.Firefly Beach is set in Hubbard's Point, Connecticut, which will also be the location of two other books, Safe Harbor and True Blue, written by Ms. Rice. It is in this beach town that Hugh and Augusta Renwick have raised their three daughters Clea, Caroline and Skye. Now, many years later previous events in these women's lives continue to loom over them. The oldest daughter Caroline owns the local bed and breakfast, which caters to an artistic crowd who continue to revere her well- known father and painter. Clea, the middle daughter is married to a local minister, the mother of two young children and provides the voice of reason and stability in the family. Skye, an artist and the youngest daughter has recently left her philandering husband continues to deal with her involvement in a family accident by drinking too much is prone to fits of depression and causes her family to constantly worry about her. And presiding over the family is Augusta, now the widow of a famous artist who deals with all adversity by closing her eyes to the very real problems her daughters deal with in their lives.Now Joe Connor arrives in Hubbard's Point on an expedition to salvage a ship that sunk many years ago. As a young man his path crossed with the Renwick family when his father presumably died from a heart attack in the Renwick's home. Caroline, a young girl wrote Joe a condolence note after this event which resulted in them corresponding for several years until Joe as an adolescent learns the truth about his father's death. Now finally meeting Caroline in person, Joe can neither hide his hatred of Caroline's family nor his attraction to her. And Caroline beset by the past and Skye's current emotional deteriaration cannotignore that she is quite taken with the man who she so adored as a young girl.In my opinion, there are few writers today who present readers with family stories as well as Luanne Rice does. Whether she describes the love between parents and children or siblings for each other, this author always manages to bring tears to my eyes. And in Firefly Beach she presents a memorable relationship between Caroline and Joe and the three sisters and their mother which makes this book a most worthwhile read.I now look forward to reading Safe Harbor and True Blue which continues the story of some characters readers first meet in Firefly Beach. I have a feeling that I will also throughly enjoy these two books.Read more ›

Too much unnecessary violence and profanity. It seemed like all the characters were made into alcoholics for the sake of character conflict.The romance of Caroline Renwick and Joe Connor is complicated by a shooting that involved both their parents years ago. Caroline and Joe began writing letters when they were teenagers, so there's a lot of backstory told through letters.This novel feels a lot like Nicholas Sparks's "Message in a Bottle" what with taking place near the ocean, and lots of old letters remembered. "Firefly Beach" has lots of stuff about deep-sea diving and oceanography, as the Connor brothers are scuba divers looking for lost ocean treasure--very similar to the diving instructor in "Message in a bottle".However, Luanne Rice's Connecticut shoreline is nowhere near as compelling as Nicholas Sparks North Carolina shoreline in "Message in a Bottle," which I might rather read than "Firefly".Luanne Rice's other novel, "Summer Light", the one that came after "Firefly", was the better one of the two Luanne Rice books.

I have been hearing people rave about Luanne Rice's books for some time now, so I thought I would give this book a try. I found the premise of the story very interesting. Two families brought together by tragedy, who go their separate ways, and are drawn back together thirty years later. The Renwick family is well drawn. The emotionally uninvolved Augusta Renwick, matriarch to the three Renwick girls, Caroline, cool and sophisticated, Clea the happily married earth mother and Skye the alcoholic mess. The problems stem from the overwhelming tragedies that seem to permeate the entire storyline. From the opening chapter scene of impending murder, to the accidental death of a young man caused by a young girl, the doom and gloom dragged the tone of the whole book down. The formulistic love story between Caroline and Joe was very predictable. What does save the book is the chemistry of the three sisters, whose story is heart warming, and believable. We all want to believe that love and loyalty can be the answer to a lot of unhappiness, and in this particular instance that is true. I have one other Luanne Rice book on my never ending To Be Read pile, so I will give this author one more try at winning my loyalty.